Wednesday 30 June 2010

Field of dreams?


     If you spend a lot of time wandering the British countryside as I do, you become familiar with the crops grown by the farmers. Wheat, barley and oilseed rape(canola) are ubiquitous, beans, peas, spuds and maize are not unusual and the occasional crop of linseed or clover is not unknown. The agricultural equivalent of a trainspotter, me.
     Yesterday brought a new one for me though, a crop grown for industrial fibre that isn't often grown on that kind of scale on these shores. Hemp, though not in its "medicinal" form. Last time I saw leaves like that I was a student, and they were being grown in a pot(no pun intended) on a friend's windowsill. Not very illicit, but then again I think they were mostly for show. 
      

9 comments:

  1. Oh! I recognize those leaves! LOL

    I think one of the reasons we can't get the US government to re-legalize hemp production (it used to be legal and was even a cash crop grown by some of our founding fathers), is because the authorities are probably afraid you could easily hide a crop of the more fun variety, among the hemp plants.

    Melissa XX

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  2. I know over here it's grown under a strict licencing and inspection regime, which is probably why it's not often seen. I think our slightly cooler climate means the illegal variety would be less effective grown outdoors than in your climate.

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  3. claire, yes . . . for some chocolate cake or something . . .

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  4. @ Nix, yeah ...or ...like.. what? I mean ...That green is so...green.... and the lyrics of the Cocteau Twin's songs are making sense to me now...I mean, so deep......what was I saying again? Oh yeah, Peace sister!

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  5. ...brother :)

    Back in my generation's Summer of Love I was certainly invited to all the right parties. The kicker? As the sound-and-light tech I was high on sub-bass, inhaled smoke fluid and DMX-512. They say if you can remember Acid House, you weren't really there...

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  6. Quite the common variety in Cali. Goes with the territory out here. Did you know that you can actually smoke that stuff?

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  7. ... sister ... brother ... sibling ... it's all groooovy.

    (thanks for the correction, though, jenny!)

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  8. @Calie: This is, so we are told, a strain bred such that you'd need to use an agricultural baler to assemble enough active ingredient into a smokable joint, for which of course you'd then have to use a tractor to move around.

    @Nix: any time!

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